Elephant's Graveyard (Full Length Version)

"The script—based on a true story about a traveling circus that, in 1916, stumbled into gory disaster in a muddy Tennessee town—is, like the best art, microscopically specific with echoes that radiate outward…

RECOGNITION / AWARDS

KCACTF: Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival New Play

Winner! 2008 Keene Prize for Literature

Elephant's Graveyard is the true tale of the tragic collision of a struggling circus and a tiny town in Tennessee, which resulted in the only known lynching of an elephant. Set in September of 1916, the play combines historical fact and legend, exploring the deep-seated American craving for spectacle, violence and revenge.

"The script—based on a true story about a traveling circus that, in 1916, stumbled into gory disaster in a muddy Tennessee town—is, like the best art, microscopically specific with echoes that radiate outward across time. It conjures a world with its own atmosphere and terrible internal logic. It's mesmerizing... symphonic in its emotional variations on a tragic theme. Elephant's Graveyard buzzes with truth about the consequences of misunderstanding, the invisible but enormous gap between artists and their audiences, and the infernal beauty of vaudeville." - The Stranger, Seattle

"A theatrical masterpiece." – Columbia City Paper

"The most striking production in the (NSDF) festival." – Times of London

"Deeply moving...has the audience in stitches at the open and tears at the close." – TheSunCoast.com

Elephant's Graveyard was first produced by the University of Texas at Austin at the Oscar Brockett Theatre in Austin, Texas on November 16, 2007. The director was Laura Kepley. Elephant's Graveyard had its non-Equity premiere at the Trus

MUSICAL STYLE

George Brant’s plays include Grounded, Marie and Rosetta, Elephant’s Graveyard, The Mourners’ Bench, Any Other Name, Salvage, Grizzly Mama, Three Voyages of the Lobotomobile, and Dark Room. An Affiliate Writer at the Playwrights' Center, his scripts have been produced internationally by the Public Theater, the Atlantic Theater Company,
Cleveland Play House, the Alley Theatre, Trinity Repertory ... view full profile